BOISE, Idaho—Elite conservative reaction to Super Tuesday’s results signals that Mitt Romney still has lots of work to do at shoring up his base and that this nominating contest will go on for quite some time. There’s a grudging acknowledgement Romney is likely to be the nominee on conservative blogs and among opinion leaders this morning, but Romney most certainly did not get that aura of inevitability that he had hoped for. Here’s a sampling of what’s popping on the right:

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NATIONAL REVIEW EDITOR RICH LOWRY – “ROMNEY: THE CANDIDATE OF ‘EH’”: “In a sketch last weekend following Mitt Romney's win in Michigan, ‘Saturday Night Live,’ had its Romney character boast that it was another instance of voters saying of him, ‘Eh, I guess.’ ‘Eh, I guess’ looks to be the motto he'll have to try to ride to the nomination. It was an ‘eh’ night for Romney, although he avoided catastrophe by pulling out a razor-thin win in Ohio where he was trailing most of the night…Rarely has a candidate seemed so inevitable and so weak at the same time.” http://fxn.ws/z5qDMa

THE WEEKLY STANDARD’S WILLIAM KRISTOL – “IT’S NOT OVER”: “Romney of course remains the clear favorite. But the schedule over the next few weeks does him few favors. There are 14 primaries and caucuses in the next month, including Kansas on March 10, Alabama, Hawaii, and Mississippi on March 13, Missouri on March 17, Illinois on March 20, Louisiana on March 24, and Maryland and Wisconsin on April 3. Rick Santorum will probably hold his own—maybe more than hold his own—against Romney in these contests. (Furthermore, if Santorum can win Alabama and Mississippi next week, Gingrich may either get out or become fairly irrelevant, which would presumably help Santorum.) Then there are three weeks off in April, so the get-the-race-over-crowd will have lots of free time to stew and gnash until the Northeast weighs in big on April 24, with Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Which, however, probably won't provide an unambiguous verdict either. So then we'll be on to the merry month of May. Fun!” http://bit.ly/A7Es84

“SPLIT DECISION” – WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL SAYS SANTORUM HAS CAUSE TO FIGHT ON: “While Mitt Romney had a good night and stretched his lead among delegates, Rick Santorum did well enough to more than justify staying in the race…Yet Mr. Santorum also did well in Ohio because he continues to carve out pluralities among tea party supporters, cultural conservatives, younger voters, and those who didn't attend college and aren't affluent. Partly this is the result of Mr. Santorum actively targeting these voters as a kindred spirit who understands their pain and values, but it also reflects Mr. Romney's weakness among the populist precincts of the GOP.”

MORE FROM WSJ EDITORIAL – NEWT DIDN’T SHOW HE’S VIABLE: “… As for Newt Gingrich, he says his win in Georgia means he can fight another day. But he showed little strength anywhere else, and his overriding problem is his negative image even among Republicans. In Ohio's exit poll, 48% said they'd be dissatisfied if he were the GOP nominee. That's not an argument for electability. His speech Tuesday night also betrayed his familiar ill-discipline as he rambled on with a history of the 2012 campaign from Iowa to Georgia. He'll have to defeat Mr. Santorum soon in more states than Georgia and outside of the South to claim to be the main alternative to Mr. Romney.” http://on.wsj.com/yKHncW

JOHN FUND – THE WARNING SIGNS FOR ROMNEY: “Given his crushing financial advantage, Romney should have done better tonight,” conservative commentator John Fund writes for National Review Online. “He lost Oklahoma to Rick Santorum, despite the endorsement of the state’s most popular politician — populist U.S. senator Tom Coburn. He won Virginia, where his only opponent was Ron Paul, by only 59 percent to 41 percent. He lost significant cities ranging from upper-crust Charlottesville to working-class Lynchburg. ..And in Ohio — unlike Michigan — there was no semi-organized effort among Democrats to embarrass him by casting votes for Santorum…Romney remains the favorite for the GOP nomination, but if his campaign doesn’t realize that tonight’s results are real danger signals for their man — with regard to both later primaries and the November election — they are fooling themselves.” http://bit.ly/wJgBCQ

FIRST IN SCORE – NEWT 2012 LAUNCHES “ROMNEY RECORD” FACEBOOK TIMELINE: “Gingrich was the first presidential candidate to launch a Facebook timeline to inform voters about his conservative record and accomplishments,” per a forthcoming release. “Today, Newt 2012 launched the ‘Romney Record’ Facebook timeline to highlight Governor Romney’s long history of being a liberal, out-of-touch Republican.” See it here: http://on.fb.me/xQcLv5.

Gingrich will also get Secret Service protection in the near future, his campaign confirmed, joining Romney and Santorum. http://bit.ly/zQ0u8l

MAINSTREAM MEDIA ANALYSIS—THE NEW POST-SUPER TUESDAY NARRATIVE:

WASHINGTON POST’S DAN BALZ – RACE TAKING TOLL ON MITT: “Nomination battles often strengthen the winner, but some take a toll. Rarely is there a straight line between March and November that predicts the outcome of a general election. Still, Romney is in worse shape at this point in the campaign than virtually all recent previous nominees.” http://wapo.st/w8N8uW

POLITICO’S JONATHAN MARTIN – ROMNEY’S ROUGH ROAD TO TAMPA: “Romney’s still likely to be the GOP nominee. But Super Tuesday demonstrated again that getting to Tampa is going to prove longer and costlier than he and his advisers had hoped…Romney supporters have begun talking openly about the bruising the front-runner has received.” South Dakota Sen. John Thune: “There is a point at which we’re going to have to conclude if we’re going to win in the fall we have to get behind a nominee and start focusing on our real opponent.” http://bit.ly/Abgviz

SLATE’S JOHN DICKERSON – ROMNEY WON UGLY AGAIN: “The victory in the most coveted Super Tuesday contest was the story of disaster narrowly averted. Santorum could tell a story of defying the odds and marvel at how far he'd come. He won three of the 10 races--with victories in Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Tennessee--and nearly claimed the big prize with a campaign operation held together by bailing wire and sturdy boards found at the roadside. The Republican presidential campaign is now a battle between a movement and mathematics.” http://bit.ly/xI0Cij

VIRGINIA’S LARRY SABATO – NO END IN SIGHT: “It is obvious to almost every observer that Mitt Romney is likely to be the Republican nominee for president. But could it be that Republican activists want Romney put through his paces week after week, if only to drum into him the conservative principles they suspect he does not fully embrace?” Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics wonder. http://bit.ly/As76QM

REALITY CHECK – ROMNEY NOW BOASTS 3X MORE DELEGATES THAN GINGRICH OR SANTORUM: “Math like that made it possible for Romney to hit 323 total delegates, according to NBC News' projections through 12:35 a.m. ET — more than triple the number won by Gingrich (105) and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (101) and 13½ times those won by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas (24).” http://on.msnbc.com/wbhbQI

ROMNEY STILL UNLIKELY TO GET A BOUNCE: “With six states captured on the night — Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont and Virginia — the front-runner is poised to take a majority of the 437 delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday. He remains the delegate leader, and he scored big in Massachusetts, Virginia and Idaho on that front. And yet. Romney, as we’ve written before, is likely heading into another bounce-free news cycle.”

IT’S TIME FOR SANTORUM TO ATTACK GINGRICH HARDER: “He will never be able to overtake Romney with Gingrich in the race. This means that Santorum, along with some conservative pundits, will have to start making a far more overt case that Gingrich must get out of the race. His team began that effort last night.”

NEWT DOESN’T SEEM READY TO LEAVE: Gingrich once again is arguably Romney’s best friend: If he were to drop out, Santorum would undoubtedly get a boost. [He did get Sarah Palin’s vote in Alaska: http://bit.ly/yQz4aS.]

PAUL’S TIME ON STAGE RUNNING SHORT: Paul’s best shot at finally scoring a win, after a much-ballyhooed caucus-driven strategy, was supposed to be in North Dakota, where anyone could vote. Instead, Santorum was the surprise winner there. Paul also came up short in Idaho, which has a heavy Mormon population, and Alaska. Paul’s media coverage has already fallen off considerably as his delegate-slog plan has failed to net him anything close to a competitive share of delegates. [Here’s my story from Boise on Paul’s failure to win any of the three contests he targeted: http://politi.co/xsiBgi.]

EVERYONE BENEFITTING FROM SUPER PACS: Romney has complained bitterly about the benefactors who are keeping rivals’ campaigns alive with donations to supporting super PACs. Yet it’s clear that Romney is getting just as much of a boost from the super PACs as Gingrich or Santorum. http://politi.co/ywR7uf

EXIT POLLS –

SANTORUM LOST OHIO CATHOLICS: “According to CNN’s exit polls, Romney took 43% of Ohio Catholics on Super Tuesday, compared to 31% for Rick Santorum, and Romney beat Santorum overall by 38% to 37%. Catholic voters accounted for a third of Ohio’s Republican electorate, the largest share of Catholics in any Super Tuesday state.” CNN: http://bit.ly/A9eQI8.

ROMNEY WEAK WITH EVANGELICALS: “He pulled out a statewide victory [in Ohio] only by winning big in population centers such as Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, that tend to vote Democratic in presidential elections,” note Bloomberg’s Greg Giroux and Mark Niquette. “Romney ran poorly among voters who described themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians, according to an exit poll of 2,728 Republican voters. He lost to Santorum by 17 points among evangelicals, many of them motivated by opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Their turnout in 2004 in Ohio helped President George W. Bush win re-election.” http://bloom.bg/xfQidD

RICH PEOPLE LIKE MITT: “In the seven states that had exit polls, Romney - a millionaire many times over who has struggled to connect with working-class voters - was the preferred candidate of the wealthiest voters,” per the AP’s Phil Elliot. “In Ohio and Tennessee, Romney won about 4 in 10 voters who reported a household income of more than $200,000. In Georgia, about a third of voters with a family income greater than $100,000 backed Romney. In his home state of Massachusetts, about three-quarters of voters making more than $200,000 supported him. Santorum, in turn, did well among less affluent voters. In Ohio and Tennessee, he claimed about 4 in 10 voters reporting an income between $50,000 and $99,000. In Oklahoma, he won about 4 in 10 voters who made less than $50,000.” http://apne.ws/zpIl4m

ECONOMY WAS TOP ISSUE: Voters in each of seven primary states polled yesterday by the Associated Press said the same issue — the economy — was their top concern.” http://bit.ly/wAVe9O

OHIO, AS EXPECTED, WAS THE KEY BATTLEGROUND –

KAPTUR TROUNCES KUCINICH: “Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo won her first primary election contest ever Tuesday, defeating longtime colleague U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Cleveland) after each battled hard for a foothold in the newly remapped 9th Congressional District,” per the Toledo Blade. “She easily carried Lucas County, her home, by a whopping 22,269 votes to the 870 votes garnered by Mr. Kucinich. Miss Kaptur racked up wins in Erie County, by 4,405 votes, Ottawa County, by 1,522 votes, and Lorain County, by 404 votes, offsetting a commanding lead of 15,167 votes held by Mr. Kucinich in Cuyahoga County.” http://bit.ly/yDJQkM

JEAN SCHMIDT TOPPLED IN GOP PRIMARY: “Rep. Jean Schmidt lost her GOP primary in Ohio to foot surgeon Brad Wenstrup in a surprising upset on Tuesday evening,” Roll Call reports. “Wenstrup, who unsuccessfully ran for Cincinnati mayor in 2009, defeated Schmidt 49 percent to 43 percent…Republicans did not expect Schmidt to lose her primary, and her re-election race was not even on the radar of many Ohio and national operatives. Schmidt’s defeat marks the first incumbent Republican to lose re-election this cycle.” http://bit.ly/A1MKSH

THE NRCC CONGRATULATES BETTY SUTTON on her primary win with a microsite that attacks the Democrat for killing jobs. It’s called WHEELOFSUTTON.com, and it’s a play off the game Wheel of Fortune to highlight votes that the GOP calls fiscally irresponsible. The site: http://bit.ly/AcFVxC.

JOE THE PLUMBER BARELY WINS HIS PRIMARY: “Samuel Wurzelbacher, who is better known from campaign 2008 as ‘Joe the Plumber,’ almost lost his House bid to an obscure auctioneer named Steve Kraus — when the dust settled, Wurzelbacher escaped with a narrow 51 to 48 percent victory,” writes Alex Isenstadt. He’ll now face Marcy Kaptur. http://politi.co/zSw0K8

JOSH MANDEL, who actually has a chance to serve in Congress, is also now the official GOP nominee for Ohio Senate: http://bit.ly/wslVpA.

DEWINE CLAIMS VICTORY OVER KASICH IN CENTRAL COMMITTEE FIGHT: “Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine issued a statement tonight indicating that he has beaten back an effort by Gov. John Kasich to oust him by taking control of the state party's central committee,” the Columbus Dispatch reports. “Kasich had fielded a slate of candidates in an effort to win at least 34 of the 66 seats on the committee. Sources said Kasich targeted 10 DeWine loyalists in the final days of the campaign with emails and a paid media campaign, and was victorious in just four of them, apparently falling short of the votes he will need to overthrow DeWine. DeWine's current two-year term expires in January. ‘After tonight's primary election, it's clear that a large majority of state central committee members support my continued service as chairman of the Republican Party,’ DeWine said in the statement.” http://bit.ly/xhp58j

WHAT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE UP TO NOW: Santorum heads to Kansas for an afternoon rally in Lexana. Then he flies to Mississippi for a visit to an industrial facility in Tupelo and a 7:30 p.m. rally in Jackson. Gingrich is in Alabama – with stops in Montgomery and Birmingham. Paul is taking the day off. Details: http://politi.co/nKs8EW

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO: “In the morning (10:15), the President will travel to the Charlotte, North Carolina area… the President will visit Daimler Trucks North America Mt. Holly Truck Manufacturing Plant where he will tour a production facility and deliver remarks on the economy…In the afternoon, the President will depart North Carolina en route Washington, DC.”

BRACKETING OBAMA – GOP TO HIGHLIGHT RIGHT-TO-WORK OPPOSITION: As Obama visits a UAW Union Shop, the North Carolina Republican Party is going to highlight “his stumping for big labor in a right-to-work state appeasing liberal base and supporters like Trumka.” The headline of the McClatchy story is “GOP sees Obama running scared in North Carolina.” http://bit.ly/wYQF2o

HAWAII SENATE – LINGLE FUNDRAISING WITH ROY BLUNT: Democrats are planning to make a lot of hay back in Hawaii about Linda Lingle attending a fundraiser last night with Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the namesake of the controversial contraception amendment. The opposition believes it will help undercut her moderate image and may keep women at bay. It might also galvanize the left. See TPM: http://bit.ly/zvAZ0m. HuffPo: http://huff.to/wdHbdK.

NEW JERSEY HOUSE – DONALD PAYNE DIES OF CANCER: Democrats will wind up holding the seat, but this is a good obituary in the Star-Ledger: “The life of Donald Payne Sr. reads like a history of the battles and triumphs of African-Americans through the 20th century.” http://bit.ly/znXdXG.

LIGHTER CLICKS –

NEWT GINGRICH humanizes himself as he catches a few winks before his video address to AIPAC: http://abcn.ws/wx0ZCY.

NEWT's new Twitter followers flat-line after South Carolina. Cool graph of how many followers each candidate has gained by day via Twitter: http://bit.ly/zSLjbL.

DENNIS KUCINICH’S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS during his tenure in Congress, compiled by The Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe and Paul Kane: http://wapo.st/x40PX9.

STEPHEN COLBERT joked about getting back to his blue collar roots on his show (taped before polls closed): http://gaw.kr/AkR94U.

CODA – QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The only sure things in life are death, taxes and Lucas County having the worst elections board in the state of Ohio.” – March Kaptur adviser Steve Faught fumes that more than 70 Toledo voters were handed ballots for the wrong congressional primary http://bit.ly/wXLHI6

Authors:

About The Author

James Hohmann is a reporter for POLITICO Pro.

He covered the 2012 presidential campaign from start to finish, authoring the daily Morning Score tipsheet for nearly two years as he reported from 23 states over the course of the primaries and general election. Through the fall, he traveled with Mitt Romney.

Hohmann spent 2010 chronicling the Republican Party’s drive to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He arrived from The Washington Post at the end of 2009. Previously he wrote for the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau, the Dallas Morning News and The San Jose Mercury News.

An honors graduate of Stanford University, Hohmann studied American political history. He served as editor-in-chief of The Stanford Daily and wrote an award-winning thesis about the 1976 Republican primaries and the political ascendancy of Ronald Reagan.